It is difficult to imagine a modern garden without such gardening elements as decorative shrubs that bring bright touches to the colorful palette of shades of plant compositions. Ornamental shrubs for the garden act as spectacular tapeworms decorating outdoor areas, hedges along paths or serve as a backdrop for colorful flower arrangements. Their presence transforms the appearance of any garden and makes it more elegant and festive.
How to choose the right shrub?
In order for a beautiful shrub to fit seamlessly into an existing landscape, a number of basic criteria should be taken into account when choosing a plant.
Criterion # 1 - decorative culture
Attractiveness is one of the key criteria for choosing a plant. Today, on the horticultural market, you can find more than one hundred of the most diverse types of shrubs that have an unusual shape and color of foliage, and elegant flowers of juicy shades that exude a marvelous aroma. If it is a flowering shrub, then it is desirable that it pleased continuous flowering throughout the season. Decorative leaf varieties that change color over time are also interesting.
When planning to decorate a suburban area with plants, any owner wants to create a picturesque ensemble, in which all elements harmoniously complement each other
Criterion # 2 - plant height
When choosing shrubs, the compositional structure of the garden should be considered. On a site with a small area, it is better to plant the most compact varieties with a dense non-sprawling crown (for example: columnar junipers). When planning to plant a shrub as a freely growing hedge, you can choose crops that are prone to rapid growth. Particular attention should be paid to the shape of the crown, so that it looks attractive not only in summer with a “cap” of foliage, but also in winter.
Criterion # 3 - cultivation features
When choosing a plant, one should take into account the features of the climatic zone in which it grows. Some varieties feel comfortable in semi-shaded areas of the garden, while others are able to show decorativeness only in well-lit areas. It is better for beginners to give preference to varieties that do not require special care and breeding conditions.
Spectacular flowering shrubs
Although the rose is one of the "capricious" plants, to maintain the decorativeness of which it is required to make a lot of effort, park varieties of culture can allow even novice gardeners to plant on their site.
An indisputable favorite among the beautifully flowering ornamental shrubs for the garden is the rose. Park rose varieties are easy to care for and have excellent winter hardiness.
The only drawback of park varieties is that they bloom only once a season, but during the flowering period they look simply amazing and at the same time exude a delicate enchanting aroma. The most decorative varieties are: "Ritausma" with terry delicate pink flowers, "Shevchenko rose" with flowers of a dark red hue, Hansa with large red-pink flowers.
Favorite by many gardeners, jasmine today adorns many suburban areas. The flowering of jasmine is irresistible: snow-white flowers, blossoming on the branches in early summer, create the feeling that snow has fallen in the garden. In landscape design, jasmine is used to create flowering alleys and hedges. The shrub is shade tolerant, but blooms more abundantly in the sun. Read more about varieties, planting and care in the article.
An elegant shrub dotted with thousands of cream-colored flowers, spreading a pleasant aroma throughout the district, adorns the main entrances and recreation areas in summer cottages
Especially spectacular are jasmines with an architectural form of a crown (Virgin with a dense vertical crown and Pyramidal with a clear wide-pyramidal crown).
To create hedges, a medium-sized shrub of the vesicle is perfect, the height of which reaches 1.5-2 meters. The bubble differs in unusual foliage of green and red-burgundy shades, decorating branches with exfoliating bark of brown-red color, and elegant inflorescences. It lends itself well to cutting and is able to maintain decorativeness throughout the season.
Extremely spectacular winter-resistant shrubbery, forming a cute openwork hemisphere of pale pink and white inflorescences
The fruits of the vesicle are very interesting, representing the original leathery leaflets of a slightly swollen shape, which, as they ripen, change their color from green, and later yellow to rich red. Among the decorative varieties, the most widespread were: “Diabolo” - a handsome branchy with dark burgundy foliage, “Summer Wine” - compact with red foliage and white-pink inflorescences, “Copertina” - with orange foliage, which turns into a red palette closer to summer.
Lushly blooming rhododendrons decorated with a scattering of miniature flowers in the summer, where bright berries later appear, are excellent candidates for a place in the garden
Medium-sized shrubs of rhododendrons often act as group plantings on the background of an emerald lawn or coniferous plantings. The varieties are especially decorative: Alfred - evergreen with a pyramidal crown dotted with purple-red flowers, Blue Peter with a spreading crown decorated with lavender-blue flowers and Violet with dark-violet flowers.
Derain is also very popular among gardeners. A tall three-meter shrub is formed of flexible erect coral-red branches, the shoots of which are often covered with a bluish bloom. From May to September, inflorescences in the form of umbrellas and panicles, collected from miniature white flowers, decorate derain. The shrub retains its decorative effect in the autumn period, when its foliage is painted in bronze-raspberry shades. The shrubbery is also unusually spectacular in the winter months: the bare dark cherry shoots are a bright contrast against the background of white snow and evergreen conifers.
The plant is decorated with miniature wrinkled ovoid leaves, painted green in summer, but closer to acquiring purple-red hues.
Derain looks equally beautiful both in single copies and in group landings. He tolerates a haircut and quickly gives multiple growth. Among the decorative plant varieties, the most interesting are: "Gold Star" - leaves with a yellow pattern, "Rubra" with bright autumn leaves, "Cherokee Princess" with a slender crown.
Attractive deciduous plants
Ornamental shrubs are a real find for the garden: they are good from spring to late autumn. Such shrubs are interesting primarily for the original form of foliage, painted in bright unusual shades.
Beautiful foliage of unusual purple and burgundy shades, effectively combined with coral-colored berries, has evergreen barberry
The picky shrub looks great in hedges and single plantings. Barberry is famous for its autumn outfit when fiery red, violet and ruby colors blaze on the branches. In gardening, the most widespread varieties of barberry Siebold, Juliana and Thunberg.
Known to many gardeners for its delicious nuts, the hazel tree is also widely used for landscaping.
Against the background of lush greenery, the shapes of common hazel look spectacular: golden-edged, dark purple and white-motley. Tall shrubs tolerate slight shading, but prefer well-lit areas.
If we consider the evergreen varieties of shrubs, then boxwood and holly are famous for the greatest decorativeness. Graceful lines and clear contours of boxwood make the appearance of the garden rigorous and at the same time elegant.
Hollow magonia can be a bright decoration of the plot, decorated with dark green leaves with spiky-jagged edges.
In the winter months, the green foliage of mahonia is painted in burgundy and bronze colors, acting as a bright accent on the background of a white carpet
Creating a picturesque landscape, it is important to correctly combine plants. And then beautifully flowering shrubs will delight you with bright colors in the warm season, and evergreen and decorative deciduous trees will saturate the garden with cheerful shades in the winter months.
